Method and system for establishing a cross-carrier, multilayer communications path

ABSTRACT

A method and system is provided for establishing a secure intercarrier, interlayer communications path that can allocate bandwidth on demand. Using the present invention, one network carrier uses the resources of another carrier to communicate with an otherwise unreachable target component. As bandwidth capacity is reached, the intercarrier connection can be dynamically migrated to a lower network layer. Transmissions of the upper layer are mapped into the lower layer to satisfy the additional bandwidth requested by the connection.

Not applicable.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Our invention is related to the field of telecommunications. Moreparticularly, the field of the present invention deals with establishinga secure, cross-carrier, cross-layer, communications link.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Telecommunications carriers provide access to communications networksSprint Communications Company, L. P. of Overland Park, Kans. (“SPRINT”)is one such public carrier. There are numerous public carriers all overthe world, including for example, AT&T, British Telecom, Dutch Telecom,and France Telecom. Millions of customers can use a single publiccarrier. Governments and some enterprise companies have their ownprivate networks. One such private networks is owned by the U.S. Navy(NAVY).

Cross-carrier communication, communication between carriers, issometimes necessary. For instance, the NAVY may wish to establish acommunications link from New York to California. If, however, the NAVYdoes not possess the resources to establish such a connection, then itmay require the resources of another carrier to set up the connection.Given the current state of the art, automatically establishing such across-carrier communications link is problematic at best. Moreover,there is currently no way to automatically provide a cross-layer,cross-carrier, secure connection.

Although standards, when mature and accepted, can ease integrationburdens, no widely-accepted standards exist to permit automaticcross-carrier, cross-layer communication. The Internet Engineering TaskForce (IETF) has begun developing Generalized MultiProtocol LabelSwitching (GMPLS). GMPLS attempts to specify certain bridging-controlprotocols. GMPLS provides a unified bridging control for layerednetworks. Thus, generalized unified control messages can control severallayers of network technologies (“layers”.) Generally, a layer is a groupof related functions that are performed in a given hierarchy level.

Certain cross-layer communications may be contemplated within the scopeof GMPLS, limited to a single carrier. IETF is extending GMPLS to covera cross-vendor, but single carrier environment. No current effort isbeing expended to extend GMPLS to be cross-carrier. GMPLS protocols canprovide one of the protocol-specific implementations of theInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU) Automatically SwitchedOptical Network (ASON) generic architecture. Because neither GMPLS norany other standard permits automatic cross-carrier communication, thereis a need for a method and system for automatically communicating dataacross carriers and across layers.

Horizontal bridging, communicating between different domains or segmentsof a common layer of technology, is called Traffic Engineering. A domainis a grouping of network elements. Horizontal bridging refers toestablishing a common-layer, multidomain, bridging control. Trafficengineering can be accomplished between packet layers, framing layers,or transport layers. Traffic engineering can be accomplished acrossvendor domains within the same carrier or can be done across multiplecarriers. “Network Engineering,” however, refers to vertical bridgingbetween different layers of technologies. A common-layer,traffic-engineering bridging control can be extended to cover amultilayer, network-engineering bridging control.

Optimally, a cross-carrier connection will attempt to satisfy bandwidthdemands of the user. As described herein, one method for allocatingbandwidth on demand is to dynamically access different communicationslayers. For example, if the connection was established at a certaincommunications layer, but bandwidth demands saturate the layer, a needexists to provide a method and system for communicating data acrosslayers within a cross-carrier connection.

Automatic cross-carrier, cross-layer communication is useful, butanother important consideration when setting up such a connectioninvolves security. In the scenario listed above, both SPRINT and theNAVY would appreciate the benefits afforded by a secure data connection.A secure connection provides network-connection isolation anddata-transmission privacy. Isolation of network knowledge is animportant feature. That is, each network should not have internalknowledge of the other network's operations, e.g., topology andresources. Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system forsecure, automatic, cross-carrier communication. The methods and systemsdescribed herein contain enhanced features for security. The presentinvention provides a method and system for establishing secure,cross-carrier, cross-layer communications path.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention solves at least the above problems by providing asystem and method for automatically enabling cross-layer, cross-carriercommunication between network elements in a communications network. Thepresent invention adds a cross-carrier, secure connection aspect to aninterlayer communication network to provide flexible bandwidth.

In one aspect of the invention, two carriers can interconnect through asingle layer, such as the packet layer, to provide a carrier—carrierconnection. More desirably, the present invention allows a flexiblebandwidth upgrade by connecting the two carriers through multiplelayers. For example, when the packet and framing layers of two carriersare connected, a variable bandwidth capability can be provided via thecollaboration between traffic- and network-engineering functions.

Traffic engineering and network engineering collaborate together tosatisfy new connection requests. Satisfying bandwidth requirements ofexisting connections, or those of new-connection requests, is initiallyfulfilled by traffic-engineering. The new demands are typically receivedin a certain layer. New bandwidth demands are generally attempted to besatisfied within that layer. For example, if new demands arise within alayer, traffic engineering will try to satisfy the new demands byintelligently moving connections across different paths within thatlayer to satisfy the new demands. If the new demands are not satisfied,network engineering in the layer where new demands arose will provisiona connection in a lower layer. In other words, the lower layers are moreaware of the upper-layer capacity requirements and there is more harmonybetween demand and capacity allocation. An example of the collaborationbetween network engineering of an upper layer and traffic engineering ina lower layer is provided in the following paragraph.

With reference by way of example to the packet layer and the framinglayer, if there is not enough bandwidth in the packet layer to satisfycurrent demand, packet layer network engineering will contact theframing-layer traffic-engineering function to request a coarserconnection. The coarser framing-layer connection can be used toaggregate multiple connections from the packet layer. Aggregation,however, is not necessary when creating an inter-layer communicationspath.

The same method can be applied to establishing other cross-layer paths.For example, if there is not enough bandwidth in the framing layer tosatisfy current demands, the framing-layer network-engineering functionwill contact the transport-layer traffic-engineering function andrequest establishing a coarser connection in the transport layer. Thecoarser transport-layer connection can be used to aggregate multipleconnections from the framing layer. Again, aggregation is not required.For example, an OC3 framing-layer connection can be migrated to an OC3transport-layer connection.

Once the network-engineering function receives a request for a coarserconnection in the lower layer, network engineering will contact thetraffic-engineering function in the lower layer via itsnetwork-engineering-request-fulfillment component. Anetwork-engineering-request-fulfillment component is a conventionalelement that aids in setting up, monitoring, and tearing downtransmissions. When the lower-layer traffic-engineering functionreceives a connection request in the lower layer, thenetwork-engineering function will provision the coarser connection andcommunicate back to the upper layer that the request is granted ordenied. If the upper layer is granted a lower-layer coarser connection,the new demands in the upper layer are satisfied. If not, the originalconnection is maintained.

Thus, in one aspect of the invention, a method for establishing anintercarrier, interlayer connection is provided by receiving a requestfrom a first carrier to communicate data to said second carrier;fulfilling the request via the second carrier in a first layer; andautomatically allocating bandwidth from said second layer to saidconnection.

In another aspect of the invention, a system is provided forcommunicating data between two carriers that includes acarrier-to-carrier bridging control. The carrier-to-carrier bridgingcontrol provides a generic interface that allows cross-carrier,cross-layer data communication. The bridging control includes anetwork-engineering-request fulfillment-component for allowinginterlayer communication; a traffic-engineering request-fulfillmentcomponent for satisfying a request from another carrier within the samelayer of technology; and a bandwidth-allocation component forautomatically allocating bandwidth from to the connection.

Additional aspects of the present invention will be realized inreviewing the foregoing disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is described in detail below with reference to theattached drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1A is an illustration of three exemplary network communicationslayers;

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of logicallycoupling two communications carriers together;

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of an exemplary connection through the packetlayer;

FIG. 1D is a block diagram of an exemplary connection through the packetand framing layers;

FIG. 1E is a block diagram of one embodiment of exemplary componentswithin a carrier-to-carrier bridging control;

FIG. 1F is a block diagram that illustrates how the bridging controlcomponents can be logically arranged to allow cross-layer, cross-carriercommunication;

FIG. 2A depicts an overview of an exemplary process for intercarrier,interlayer communication;

FIG. 2B depicts in the process of FIG. 2A greater detail; and

FIG. 2C depicts a preferred method for implementing the step ofdynamically migrating a connection to a lower network layer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system and method for automaticallyestablishing a secure intercarrier, interlayer communications path thatcan allocate bandwidth on demand. The present invention has severalpractical applications in the technical arts including enabling multiplecarriers to access previously inaccessible target network devices andincreasing the network efficiency across the various telecommunicationdomains.

Acronyms and Shorthand Notations

Throughout the disclosure of the instant invention, several acronyms andshorthand notations are used to help the reader understand certainconcepts pertaining to the associated systems and methods. Theseacronyms and shorthand notations are intended solely for the purpose ofproviding an easy methodology of communicating the ideas expressedherein and are in no way meant to limit the scope of the presentinvention. The following is a list of these acronyms:

Acronym Full Phrase ASON Automatically Switched Optical Network ATMAsynchronous Transfer Mode BCI Bridge Control Interface BC BridgingControl BCP Bridging Control Plane EMS Element Management System FRFrame Relay GigE Gigabit Ethernet IDF Intermediate Distribution Frame IPInternet Protocol ITU International Telecommunication Union ITU-T TheTelecommunications Standards Section (TSS) MP Management Plane MPLSMultiProtocol Label Switching NE Network Engineering OSPF Open ShortestPath First OTN Optical Transport Network OSI Open Systems ArchitecturePNNI Private Network-to-Network Bridging control RSVP The ResourceReservation Protocol SDH Synchronous Digital Hierarchy SONET SynchronousOptical NETwork TE Traffic Engineering VPN Virtual Private Network

Further, various telecom technical terms are used throughout thisdisclosure. A definition of such terms can be found in: H. Newton,Newton's Telecom Dictionary, 18^(th) Updated and Expanded Edition(2002). These definitions are intended for providing a clearerunderstanding of the ideas disclosed herein and are in no way intendedto limit the scope of the present invention. The definitions and termsshould be interpreted broadly and liberally to the extent allowed by theart and the meaning of the words offered in the above-cited reference.

The present invention will be described more fully with reference to theaccompanying figures, in which various exemplary embodiments of theinvention are shown. The present invention should not be construed aslimited to the embodiments set forth. Rather, these embodiments areintended to be illustrative in nature and to convey the spirit of theinvention.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present inventionmay be embodied as, among other things, a method, a data-communicationssystem, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present inventionmay take the form of a hardware embodiment, a software embodiment, or anembodiment combining software and hardware. The present invention maytake the form of a computer-program product that includescomputer-useable instructions embodied on a computer-readable medium.

Computer-readable media include both volatile and nonvolatile media,removable and nonremovable media. By way of example, and not limitation,computer-readable media may comprise computer-storage media andcommunications media.

Computer-storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removableand nonremovable media implemented in any method or technology forstoring information. Examples of stored information includecomputer-useable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data. Computer-storage media include, but are not limited to, RAM,ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disks (DVD), holographic media or other optical disk storage,magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage, or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other medium.

Communications media typically embody computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated datasignal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism.Communications media include any information-delivery media. The term“modulated data signal” means a propagated signal that has one or moreof its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encodeinformation in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media, such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, infrared,radio, microwave, spread-spectrum, and other wireless mediatechnologies. Combinations of any of the above are included within thescope of computer-readable media.

Establishing a Secure Cross-Carrier, Cross-Layer Communications Path

As previously mentioned, communications networks typically includemultiple layers of network technologies (“layers”.) Turning now to FIG.1, an illustrative depiction of exemplary layers of a communicationsnetwork is provided and referenced generally by the numeral 110.Exemplary layers 110 are but a small portion of the differentcommunications layers and sublayers that exist.

Accordingly, FIG. 1 should not be interpreted to limit the scope of thepresent invention to the exemplary layers 110 shown. Rather, exemplarylayers 110 are shown to aid in the description of embodiments of theinvention. Those skill in the art will appreciate that othercommunications between other layers and sublayers, although not shown,are possible in light of the foregoing description.

The network can be decomposed into a number of layers with aclient/server-type relationship between adjacent layers. Generally, alayer is a group of related functions that are performed in a givenhierarchy plane. A network layer describes the generation, transmission,and termination of particular types of information. The network layersreferred to herein should not be confused with the layers of the OSIModel (ITU-T X.200). An OSI layer offers a specific service using oneprotocol among different protocols. Here, however, each network layerrepresents a different layer of technology. As shown in FIG. 1,exemplary layers 110 include, but are not limited to, a packet layer112, a framing layer 114, and a transport layer 116.

The packet layer 112 can include various technologies not limited toAsynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IP), Frame Relay(FR), and MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) technologies. The framinglayer can include various technologies not limited to SynchronousOptical NETwork (SONET), Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH), andDigital Wrapper (ITU-T G.709) technologies. The transport layer caninclude various technologies not limited to lambdas and other opticaltechnologies.

The client/server relationship between adjacent layer networks is onewhere a link connection in the client-layer network is supported by atrail in the server-layer network. An adaptation function generallydescribes how the client-layer network characteristic information ismodified so that it can be transported over a trail in the server-layernetwork. From a layered network functional viewpoint, the adaptationfunction falls between the layers. The client/server relationship can bea one-to-one, many-to-one, or one-to-many relationship. In other words,when mapping a connection from an upper layer to a lower layer, signalaggregation is not necessary.

The one-to-one relationship represents the case of a single client-layerlink connection supported by a single server-layer trail. An example ofa one-to-one relationship is a single packet-layer connection mappedinto a single framing-layer connection. The same applies for a singleframing-layer connection mapped into a single transport-layerconnection. An example of a many-to-one relationship is aggregatingmultiple packet-layer connections into a single framing-layer connectionor mapping multiple framing-layer connections into a singletransport-layer connection. The many-to-one relationship represents thecase of several link connections of client-layer networks supported byone server-layer trail at the same time.

Multiplexing/aggregating techniques can be used to combine theclient-layer signals. The client signals may be the same or differenttypes. This means that different packet-layer technologies (IP, ATM, FR)can be mapped into framing-layer technologies (SONET/SDH, OTN, GigE).The same applies where different framing-layer technologies can bemapped to the transport layer 116 (lambda). The adaptation function mayinclude specific processes for each client signal and common processesassociated with the server-layer signal. The one-to-many relationship(inverse multiplexing) represents the case where a client-layer linkconnection is supported by several server-layer trails in parallel.

Inverse multiplexing techniques (e.g., ATM inverse multiplexing, virtualconcatenation) are used to distribute the client-layer signal. Theserver signals can the same or different types.

Layers can also be roughly differentiated based on bandwidth. Generally,the lower the layer the coarser the bandwidth. That is, each lower layermanages larger data slices. For example, the packet layer 112 mayoperate at 100 Megabits per seconds while the transport layer maytransmit optical wavelengths carrying 10 Gigabytes each. The higher thelayer the smaller the data slices all the way to a voice circuit, forexample, which carries only 64 kilobits per second.

When desirous, the present invention aggregates upper-layer signals intolower layers. For example, multiple packet-layer connections can beaggregated into one framing-layer connection, multiple framing-layerconnections can be aggregated into one transport-layer connection, etc.This concept is also called “adaptation,” referring to how to getinformation at one layer carried over another layer. Consider aneveryday telephone conversation where people talk into the phone usingan analog sound voice. “Adaptation” explains converting the analog voiceinto electrical data signals. Further, IP or ATM data packets may beencapsulated into a SONET frame. In sum, upper layers can be aggregatedinto lower layers.

Turning now to FIG. 1B a block diagram illustrating one embodiment oflogically coupling two communications carriers together is provided.Carrier_1 is operationally coupled with Carrier_2 through multiplelayers. The packet layers 112 are coupled though first link 118. Theframing layers 114 are coupled though second link 120. The transportlayers are coupled though third link 122. Coupling Carrier_1 andCarrier_2 though multiple layers allows interlayer communication betweencarriers. As will be explained, interlayer communication is one methodfor meeting the bandwidth demands of the connection.

Turning now to FIG. 1C, a block diagram of an exemplary connectionthrough the packet layer is shown. The connection through the packetlayer is merely an exemplary connection chosen to explain an embodimentof the present invention. The foregoing description is applicable to anyconnection established at a non-lowest communications layer. A firstsegment 124A represents a connection between a customer 126 and sometarget component 128. This connection could be any type of communicationchannel, wired or wireless. The exemplary connection could be a VirtualPrivate Network (VPN) connection, a telephone call, a secure broadbandconnection, etc, and terminates via a final segment 124B. Acarrier-to-carrier bridging control 130 provides the capability forcross-carrier communication.

A bridging control 130 can replace most management plane functions whileadding the ability to process calls. Generally, a bridging control 130is a collection of controllers that are responsible for provisioningconnections within a layer through call processing (signaling.)“Provisioning” involves supplying telecommunications service to a userincluding transmission, wiring, and equipment. Provisioning providessufficient quantities of switching equipment to meet service standards.

Bandwidth-demand in a layer can dynamically increase due to a multitudeof factors. New connections may be requested or existing connections mayrequire additional bandwidth. Bridging control 130 is coupled to thepacket layer of Carrier_1 via first carrier link 130 and to Carrier_2 bysecond carrier ling 130B. If the bandwidth available in the packet layer112 to satisfy the current demand reaches a threshold capacity, the newbandwidth requirement can be dynamically fulfilled by provisioning aparallel connection in the framing layer 114. As indicated in FIG. 1D,this parallel connection is comprised of a third carrier link 130C fromthe framing layer 114 of Carrier_1 and fourth carrier link 130D to theframing layer 114 of Carrier_2. Although only two examples wereprovided, a cross-carrier communication link can be established betweenany layer.

Turning now to FIG. 1E, a block diagram of one embodiment of exemplarycomponents within a carrier-to-carrier bridging control 130 is provided.The carrier-to-carrier bridging control 130 can be embodied in hardware,software, or a combination of the two. The carrier-to-carrier bridgingcontrol 130 includes a first request-receiving component, which can be atraffic-engineering request-receiving component (TERFC) 132; a secondrequest-fulfillment component, which can be a network-engineeringrequest-receiving component (NERFC) 134; and a bandwidth-allocationcomponent 138, which includes a network-engineering component 140 and atraffic-engineering component 142.

The TERFC 132 performs the function of receiving and fulfilling atraffic engineering request from a first carrier to communicate datathrough a second carrier within the same layer of technology. The NERFC134 performs the function of receiving and fulfilling a networkengineering request from an upper layer to the same carrier lower layer.Finally, a bandwidth-allocation component 140 automatically allocatesbandwidth to the connection when a threshold capacity is reached. When acoarser connection is requested, both carriers employ a respective NERFC134. In other words, both carriers perform network engineering toprovision a lower-layer connection.

FIG. 1F provides an illustration of how the logical elements of bridgingcontrol 130 are implemented to facilitate a cross-carrier, cross-layercommunications path. An upper-layer TERFC 132 of Carrier_1 is coupled toan upper-layer TERFC 132 of Carrier_2 by communications link 133.Similarly, a lower-layer TERFC 132 of Carrier_1 is coupled to alower-layer TERFC 132 of Carrier_2 by communications link 135.

An upper-layer NERFC 134 of Carrier_1 is coupled to a lower-layertraffic engineering component 142 of the same carrier by communicationslink 137. Similarly, an upper-layer NERFC 134 of Carrier_2 is coupled toa lower-layer traffic engineering component 142 of the same carrier bycommunications link 139. Communications links 139 and 137 providedinterlayer communication. With all of the communications links, 133,135, 137, and 139, a secure cross-carrier, cross-layer communicationspath can be established. As indicated by first ellipsis 141 and secondellipsis 143, multiple layers and carriers can be connected in a similarfashion. A generic interface is provided by input segments 130A, 130B,130C, and 130D.

Turning now to FIG. 2A, an overview of a process for secureintercarrier, interlayer communication path is referenced generally bynumeral 210. At a step 212, a transmission request from Carrier_1 isreceived. At a step 214, the request from Carrier_1 is fulfilled with asecure connection through Carrier_2. As needed, the bandwidth isautomatically allocated to connection at a step 216. A more detailedprocess flow is provided in FIG. 2B. Coupling the TERFCs 132 enablescross-carrier communication. Turning now to FIG. 2B, a more detailedprocess for secure intercarrier, interlayer communication is referencedgenerally by the numeral 220. At a step 222, customer 126 of Carrier_1requests a connection to target component 128, which could be acustomer. Carrier_1 attempts to fulfill its customer's request at a step224. For a variety of reasons Carrier_1 may not be able to service therequest of customer 126. Carrier_1 may lack a long-haul connection tothe customer. Accordingly, Carrier_1 requests a connection to targetcomponent 128 at step 226. Carrier_2 receives the request of Carrier_1though carrier-to-carrier bridging control 130 at a step 230. Carrier_2grants the request at a step 232. At a step 232, Carrier_2 begins toservice the request from Carrier_1 with a secure connection.

At a step 234, a determination is made as to whether additionalbandwidth is needed. If no additional bandwidth is needed, Carrier_2continues to transmit data from Carrier_1 to the target component at astep 236. If more bandwidth is needed, then TERFC 132 attempts todynamically fulfill the new demand in step 238. In a preferredembodiment, the new demand fulfillment is initially achieved in the samelayer it originates. If no capacity is available in the original layer,however, the two carriers migrate the connection to a lower networklayer.

A determination is then made as to whether traffic engineering wassuccessful at a step 240. If so, Carrier_2 continues to transmit thedata from Carrier_1 to the target component at step 236. If howevertraffic engineering was not successful then network engineering attemptsto fulfill the bandwidth demand request at a step 242. Step 242 will beexplained in greater detail with respect to FIG. 2C, where networkengineering attempts to fulfill the request by migrating the connectionto a lower network layer. But before reaching FIG. 2C, the processcontinues. Network engineering will either grant or deny the demandrequest at a step 244. If network engineering grants the request, thenthe new demands in the upper layer will be satisfied by aggregatingbandwidth into a lower layer at a step 246 in a preferred embodiment.Migrating the connection to a lower can be accomplished in a variety ofways. Carrier_2 will continue transmitting data from Carrier_1 to thetarget component at a lower layer at step 236. If the request is notgranted, Carrier_2 will continue transmitting data from Carrier_1 to thetarget component within the same layer without granting additionalbandwidth requests, having not migrated the connection to a lower layer.

Turning now to FIG. 2C the process of attempting to migrate a connectionto a lower layer is illustrated in greater detail. FIG. 2C provides anillustrative example of migrating a connection from the framing layer114 to the transport layer 116. FIG. 2C is not intended to limit thescope of the present invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art willreadily appreciate that the process illustrated by FIG. 2C inconjunction with FIG. 2B can be applied to migrate a connection from anyupper layer to a lower layer. Providing a specific example here adds toclarity.

Accordingly, with reference to a specific example, the framing layernetwork engineering component 140 (see FIG. 1F) contacts the lowertransport layer traffic engineering component 142 (see FIG. 1F) torequest establishing a coarser connection in the transport layer at astep 242A. The coarser transport-layer connection is used to aggregatemultiple signals from the framing layer at a step 242B. Finally thenetwork engineering request fulfillment component 134 (see FIG. 1F)prepares to provision the coarser connection at a step 242C. The processcontinues as previously described when network engineering determineswhether to grant the request at step 244.

As can be seen, the present invention and any equivalent is well adaptedto provide a secure intercarrier, inter layer communications path thatcan allocate bandwidth on demand. Many different arrangements of thevarious components depicted, as well as components not shown, arepossible without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

The present invention has been described in relation to particularembodiments, which are intended in all respects to be illustrativerather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments that the presentinvention pertains without departing from its scope will become apparentto those skilled in the art.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsubcombinations and are contemplated within the scope of the claims. Notall steps listed in the various figures need be carried out in thespecific order described, nor are the various connections shown intendedto implicate that only those devices directly connected can communicatewith each other.

1. A method for establishing an intercarrier, interlayer communicationspath between a first carrier, having a first network domain, and asecond carrier, having a second carrier network domain, said methodcomprising the steps of: receiving a request from said first carrier tocommunicate data to said second carrier; fulfilling said request viasaid second carrier in said first layer; and automatically allocatingbandwidth from said second layer to said connection; wherein saidfulfilling said request includes: providing a carrier-to-carrierbridging control; providing for the transmission of said data via saidsecond carrier across said second carrier network domain, whereby saiddata is communicated from said first carrier through said second carrierby passing through said carrier-to-carrier bridging control.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein establishing said connection includesestablishing a secure connection.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein saidsecure connection is an isolated connection.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein automatically allocating bandwidth from said second layer tosaid connection includes aggregating a plurality of first-layer signalsinto one or more second-layer signals.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereinaggregating said plurality of first-layer signals includes a selectionfrom the group comprising: mapping one or more packet-layertransmissions into a framing-layer transmission; and mapping one or moreframing-layer transmission into a transport-layer transmission.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, where said framing-layer technologies includes aselection from the group comprising Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET),Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH), Digital Wrapper, Optical TransportNetwork (OTN), and Gigabit Ethernet (GigE).
 7. The method of claim 6,where said packet-layer technologies include a selection from the groupcomprising Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IP),Frame Relay (FR), and MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) technologies.8. The method of claim 7, wherein aggregating said plurality of signalsincludes mapping one or more framing-layer technologies into a transportlayer technology.
 9. The method of claim 8, where said transport-layertechnologies include lambdas.
 10. A tangible computer-readable mediumhaving computer-useable instructions embodied thereon, that whenexecuted cause a method for establishing an intercarrier, interlayercommunications path between a first carrier, having a first networkdomain, and a second carrier, having a second carrier network domain,said method comprising the steps of: fulfilling a request received fromsaid first carrier to communicate data via said second carrier in saidfirst layer; and providing for the automatic allocation of bandwidthfrom said second layer to said connection; wherein said fulfilling saidrequest includes: providing a carrier-to-carrier bridging control; andproviding for the transmission of said data via said second carrieracross said second carrier network domain, whereby said data iscommunicated from said first carrier through said second carrier bypassing through said carrier-to-carrier bridging control.
 11. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein communicating said dataincludes communicating said data via a secure connection.
 12. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said secure connection isan isolated connection.
 13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12,wherein automatically allocating bandwidth from said second layer tosaid connection includes aggregating a plurality of first-layer signalsinto one or more second-layer signals.
 14. The computer-readable mediumof claim 13, wherein aggregating said plurality of first-layer signalsincludes a selection from the group comprising: mapping one or morepacket-layer transmissions into a framing-layer transmission; andmapping one or more framing-layer transmission into a transport-layertransmission.
 15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, where saidframing-layer technologies includes a selection from the groupcomprising Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET), Synchronous DigitalHierarchy (SDH), Digital Wrapper, Optical Transport Network (OTN), andGigabit Ethernet (GigE).
 16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15,where said packet layer technologies include a selection from the groupcomprising Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IP),Frame Relay (FR), and MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) technologies.17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, where said transport-layertechnologies include lambdas.
 18. A system for communicating datathrough a communications carrier network domain, comprising acarrier-to-carrier bridging control for establishing a data connectionthrough said network domain; wherein said carrier-to-carrier bridgingcontrol includes: a first request-fulfillment component for facilitatingintralayer communication; a second request-fulfillment component forfacilitating intracarrier communication; and a bandwidth-allocationcomponent logically coupled to said first and second request-fulfillmentcomponents for automatically allocating cross-carrier bandwidth from afirst layer to a second layer of a network domain.
 19. The system ofclaim 18, wherein said data connection includes a secure connection. 20.The system of claim 19, wherein said first request-fulfillment componentis a traffic engineering request-fulfillment component.
 21. The systemof claim 20, wherein said second request-fulfillment component is anetwork engineering request-fulfillment component.
 22. The system ofclaim 18, wherein said secure connection is an isolated connection. 23.The system of claim 22, wherein said bandwidth-allocation componentcomprises a network-engineering component.
 24. The system of claim 23,wherein said bandwidth-allocation component further comprises atraffic-engineering component.
 25. The system of claim 22, wherein saidbandwidth-allocation component is adapted to aggregate a plurality offirst-layer signals into one or more second-layer signals.
 26. Thesystem of claim 25, wherein said first-layer signals include a selectionfrom the group comprising Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), InternetProtocol (IP), Frame Relay (FR), and MultiProtocol Label Switching(MPLS) technologies; and said second-layer signals include a selectionfrom the group comprising Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET),Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH), Digital Wrapper, Optical TransportNetwork (OTN), and Gigabit Ethernet (GigE).
 27. The system of claim 26,wherein said first-layer signals include a selection from the groupcomprising Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET), Synchronous DigitalHierarchy (SDH), Digital Wrapper (ITU-T G.709), Optical TransportNetwork (OTN), and Gigabit Ethernet (GigE); and said second-layertechnologies include lambdas.
 28. A system for establishing anintercarrier, interlayer communications path between a first networkcarrier and a second carrier, said method comprising the steps of:request-receiving means for receiving a request from said first carrierto communicate data to said second carrier via a data communicationspath; a request-fulfillment means, logically coupled to saidrequest-receiving means, for satisfying said request; and abandwidth-allocation means, logically coupled to saidrequest-fulfillment means, for automatically allocating bandwidth tosaid first and second carriers; wherein said fulfilling said requestincludes: providing a carrier-to-carrier bridging control; providing forthe transmission of said data via said second carrier across said secondcarrier network domain, whereby said data is communicated from saidfirst carrier through said second carrier by passing through saidcarrier-to-carrier bridging control.
 29. The system of claim 28, whereinsaid data communications path is a secure path.